The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1887-08-18
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Weekly Discourse of the Great
Brooklyn Preacher
Subject: SThc Christian Prin-
ciples Involved in Life
and Fire Insurance."

TEXT; Vet him appoint officers oper The
land, and take up he Ffth part Of the land
Of Egypt IN the seren ptenteous years.
Genesis xiii, 81.
These were the words Of Joseph, the Pres
dent OF the first insurance company that
the world ever saw. Pharaoh had dream that
him. He thought he stood on the
banks OF tho River Nile, and saw coming up
ont OF tho river seven fat, sleek, glossy cows,
md they began to browse in the thick grass
Nothing frightful about that, But after
them, coming out of the same river, he saw
seven cows that were quaint and starved, and
the worst looking cows that had ever been
seen in the land, and in the ferocity of hunger
they devoured their seven fat predecessors.
Pharaoh, the King, sent for Joseph to de
cipher these midnight hieroglyphics, Joseph
made short work of it, and intimated the
seven Tat cows that came out of the river
are seven years with plenty to eat, the
seven emaciated cows that followed them
are seven years with nothing to cat
fifth OF the corn crop Of the seven
prosperous years and keep it as n provision
FOR the seven years in which there shall be no
corn CROP The King took the counsel
and appointed Joseph, because of his integ-
rity and public spiritedness, as the President
of the undertaking. The farmers paid
one-lifth of their income rs a premium In
all the towns and cities of the land there
were branch houses. This great Egyptian
life insurance company had millions OF dol
lars MS assets, After awhile the dark days
came and the whole nation would have
starved if it had not been for the provision
they had made for the future. But now
these suffering families had nothing TO do
but go up and collect the amount of their
life policies. The Bible puts it in one short
phrase: "In all the land of Egypt there was
bread" say this was the first life insurance
company. 1t was dvinely organized. 1t
had in it all the advantages of the 'whole
life plan,n of the "tontine plan" of the ''rc-
served endowment plan" and all the other
good plans. We are told that Rev. DR.. An.
hate, of Lincolnshire, England, originated
the first life insurance company in 1858. MOI
it is as old as the corn cribs of Egypt; and
God himself was the author and originator.
If that were not so | would not take your
time and mine in Sabbath discussion of this
subject. | feel it is theme, vital, religious
and of infinite import, the morals of life and
fire insurance
About ten or twelve years ago there was q
great panic in life insurance which did good.
Under the storm the Enthusiastically and DO
gus institutions were scattered, while the
genuine were tested and firmly established,
and where does the life insurance institution
stand to-dayl What amount of comfort, of
education, of moral and spiritual. advantage
is represented in the simple statistic that in
this country the life insurance companies in
one year paid S7,0OO,00O to the families of the
bereft; and in five years they paid S300,00o,
900 to the families of the bereft; and are
promising to pay--and hold themselves in
readiness to pay-S2, 900, 100000 to the fami-
les of the bereft!
They have actually paid out more by divi
dends and death claims than they have ever
received in premiums. | know of what |
speak. The life insurance companies Of this
country paid more than 81, COO, 600 of taxes to
the government in five years. So, instead OF
these companies being indebted to the land,
the land is indebted to them. To cry out
against life insurance because here and there
one company has behaved badly is as absurd
rs it would he for a man to burn down 900
acres of harvest field in order to kill the moles
and potato bugs-as preposterous as a man
who should blow up a crowded steamer in
mid-Atlantic for the purpose of destroying
the barnacles on the bottom of the hulk.
But what does the Bible say in regard to
this subject! If the Bible favors the institu
ton, will favor it; if the Bible denounces it,
will denounce it. In addition to the fore
cast Of Joseph in the text, l call your atten
ton to Paul's comparison. Here is one man
who, through neglect, fails to support his
family while he lives, or after he dies. Here
is another man, who abhors the Scriptures
and rejects God. Which of those men is the
worses Well, you say the latter. Paul says
the former. Paul says that man who neg
sects to care for his household is more obnox-
ious than a man who rejects the Scriptures:
"He that provideth not for his own, and espe-
cially those of his own household, Is worse
than an infdel." Life insurance companies
help most of us to provide for our families
MI tnr l,,t
to pay the premiums and do not pay them,
we have no right to expect mercy at the hand
OF God in the Judgment. We are worse
than Tom Paine. worse than Voltaire,
and worse than Shaftesbury. The Bible de-
clares tive are worse than an infidel
After the certificate of death has been made
out, and thirty or sixty days have passed, and
the officer of the life insurance company
comes into the bereft household and paws
down the hard cash on an insurance policy.
that officer of the company is performing
positively religious rite according to the
Apostle James, who says: "True religion
and undefled before God and the Father is
this: To visit the fatherless and tho widow
in their affliction," and so on. The religion
of Christ proposes to take care of the tenn
poral wants Of the people as well as the spirit
ual. When Heze ;iah was diving the Juno
ton came TO him: "Set thy house in
order, for thou shalt die and not live"
That injunction in our day would
mean: Make your will; settle up your
accounts; make things plain; don't de.
ceive your heirs with rolls of worthless
mining stock don't deceive them with
deeds for western lands that will never
yield any crop but chills and fever; don't
ieave for them notes that have been out
Iawed, and second mortgages on property
That will not pay the first ''Set thy house
order hat 4, g..
going out of the world may make as little
conservation as possible. See the lean cattle
oevouring the fat cattle, and in the time of
plenty prepare for the time of want. The
Mfflculty is, when men think of their death,
they are afraid to think of it only in connec-
ton with their spiritual welfare and not Of
the devastation in the household which will
come because of their emigration from it, 1t
rs meanly selfish for you to be 80 absorbed in
the heaven to which you are going that you
forget what is to become of your wife and
children after you are dead You can ge,
out OF this world without leaving dollar and
yet die happy IL you could not provide fol
them: you can trust them in the hands of tn,
Tod who owns all the harvests, and the herds
and the flocks; but if you could pay thu
premiums on policy and neglect them it is
mean thing for you to go up to heaven Will,
they go into the poorhouse. You, at death
move into mansion, river front, and they
move into two rooms on the fourth story of ,
tenement house in back street. When thel
are out at the elbows and knees, the though
of your splendid robes in heaven will not keel
them warm. The minister may preach ,
splendid sermon over your remains, and tn
quartet may sing like four angels in tn
organ loft, but your death will be swindl.
You had the means to provide for the con
fort of your household when you left it an
you wickedly neglected it. "Oh," says som
one, ~ have more faith than. you; beliey
when / go out 4 this world the Lor
will provide for them" Go to Blacl
wells Island, 60 through all the poorhouse
of the country, and I will show you ho1
often God provides for the neglected childre
of neglectful parents. That is. he provide
for them through public charity. As 70
myself, would rather have the Lord provid
for my family in private home, and throug
my own industry, and paternal and conjuga
faithfulness. But says some man: II mea
in the next ten or twenty years to make
great fortune, and 50 shall leave my family
when l go out OF this word very comfort
able" How do you know you are going +
live ten or twenty yearss II we could loo
up the highway of the future, we could see
crossed by pneumonia, and pleurisies, an
conslmptions, and colliding rail trains, an
runaway horses, and breaking bridges, an
funeral PROFESSIONS Are you so certain yo
are going to live ten or twenty years, you ca
warrant your household any comfort after 20
go away from them? Beside that the vas
majority of men die poorl Two only out G